


Take Me Home (Safe and Sound)

by TightropeFlea



Category: Lore Olympus (Webcomic)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff and Angst, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:33:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26304946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TightropeFlea/pseuds/TightropeFlea
Summary: As they fell into step, it took all of his effort not to reach out to her. There was something right about her standing at his side.----A one-shot lost snippet from the end of Episode 81. We already have Persephone's perspective. Let's get the other side.
Relationships: Hades/Persephone (Lore Olympus)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 51





	Take Me Home (Safe and Sound)

As quickly as Poseidon's wave whipped up, it crashed down and disappeared. In its place was nothing but damp earth and Apollo's obnoxious aftershave. It made Hades wrinkle his nose in irritation. He loved his nephews, but they were tiring.

"Well, that was interesting," he sighed, turning back to the car. 

By the time she had stepped out, Persephone's hair had grown long enough that she had to cradle some of it in one arm and tug at the rest. She looked so small and lost. 

Despite her height, he'd struggled with her age - she wasn't a child. Quite the opposite, in fact. Persephone was bright, gorgeous, and had shown herself to be more than capable. But she spilled out of the car with a deluge of pink behind her, eyes half lidded and filled with that melancholy he had sensed before.

Her sorrow was palpable, and Hades felt at a complete loss as to how he could fix the situation. Would it be too much? Would it be pushing her? There was no reason she should accept any more of his help, after all. And what position was he in anyway, where he felt more able to help someone else and not himself?

He moved to her and was back at her side in a few strides, extending an arm towards the house that she and Artemis shared. The lights were on inside - Apollo must have left his sister still awake. Good. Persephone would have someone in the house to help her. "Come on, those two will be busy for the rest of the night. If there's one thing my brother loves, it's going to the mortal realm."

"Okay," There was a weariness in her voice. All of the happy energy she normally contained seemed gone. Maybe it was just exhaustion - the sun god was nothing if not as exhausting as his father. 

As they fell into step, it took all of his effort not to reach out to her. There was something right about her standing at his side. It calmed him, just like it did earlier when she had reached for his hand. His mind swam with this of the two of them, walking arm and arm through the Underworld. Her arm in his, talking amiably about nothing of consequence. A true friend. A partner.

All the same, he did his best to clear his mind and bit back the urge to press his hand to her lower back possessively. _Get a grip, you blue idiot._

"Thank you for helping me," she murmured, voice still quiet. Hades watched her, trying to unpack the situation. Persephone kept her gaze straight ahead though, bathed inn the light coming through the window. "I promise I'm not usually so weak."

"Weak?" He found himself once again unable to control his hands from reaching for her. The earnesty in her voice was agony, and he wanted so badly to cup her cheeks, make her look up at him, make her see how ridiculous the idea was. Hades shoved his traitorous hands into his pants pockets. _Stop it._ "Kore, you aren't weak. You made a forest grow in Tartarus."

"That was different. That's what I _do._ " Her eyes met his for just a moment, half focused before she looked back down again. It was unbelievable, how completely undone she made him with a single glance. He knew shame when he saw it, recognized it in the way she slowed and shifted her weight, readjusting the hair in her arm as though it was a wet comforter she was dragging. "It feels stupid, being too scared to even talk to someone."

In his pocket, Hades's fingers twitched. He looked down to his side, the sensation of tiny hands gripping his fingers so strong that he expected to see his boyish self standing there, a ghost from hours earlier.

 _I don't want to be alone with her when she's like this,_ the words returned to him. The memory of Minthe' angry face made him squeeze his eyes shut. His breath picked up, fingers flexing. Hades hummed deeply to ground himself .

"I won't pry. But between us, even I have some people that I'm afraid to speak to."

"But you're a king." His words seemed to affect the pink goddess at his side. She had stopped abruptly, head tilting in confusion. "Who do you have to be scared of?"

Her apprehension was so sudden that he cracked a smile. It was so like her to latch on to his anxieties in the face of her own. 

"Artemis, for one, if she finds me lurking out here." He teased, nodding his head towards the house.

And then she was smiling back. It didn't fully reach her eyes, still so drained - but it was still a smile. Hades felt himself relaxing as they fell back into step with one another. 

"You're right." Persephone returned with her practiced, flirty ease. "She doesn't like scoundrels."

"Oh, so I'm a scoundrel again? So soon?"

Her eyes remained on him as she opened the door with her free hand. "5 percent."

There it was - that playful spark. Hades's heart swelled and ached at how dim it was. What could have happened between she and Apollo that would take that life out of her? And why were his thoughts so selfish; that he and Persephone might have more in common than the originally thought? He wouldn't wish it on anyone. She was too young to be broken, and he didn't want that.

 _I'm the one that made her smile,_ he thought smugly, pushing his own self-destruction out of his mind.

" _Only 5%?_ I'll take wins where I can get them." Again, his hands were out of his pockets. Damnit. Eager to give them something to do other than reach for her, the older god rubbed at the back of his neck and shrugged in mock defeat. He smiled awkwardly and waved. _How old am I, thirteen?_ "Have a good night, Kore."

"Goodnight, Hades." As she closed the door, he could have sworn he saw something golden flash in her arm.

_My imagination._

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written fic for Lore Olympus before, so I hope this one is okay! These guys have such good chemistry together, but they are also _constantly_ beating themselves up despite it. I love the idea that there's a little bit of respite from the self hate when they are together. :)


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